Provision of Independent Advocacy for Adults

Bury Council are seeking a suitably qualified and experienced provider for: The Provision of Independent Advocacy for Adults CURRENT PROVISION The current advocacy service meets all statutory requirements of a local authority for the provision of independent advocacy in relation to the following; i Care Act 2014 ii Mental Health Act 2007 (IMHA) iii Mental Capacity Act 2005 (IMCA) including Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) 2009 and Liberty Protection Safeguards 2019 iv Independent NHS Complaints Advocacy (ICA) Bury Council commissions an Independent Advocacy Service, as a single point of access known as the Bury Advocacy Hub. The primary aim of the service is to offer professional, high-quality independent advocacy to adults across all categories of need who meet the eligibility criteria.

The service signposts people who do not meet the criteria for independent advocacy to alternative sources of information and advice. The service develops contacts with stakeholders to raise awareness of the Bury Advocacy Hub and to generate appropriate referrals.

SCOPE The contract duration will initially be for a period of 36 months from 1st January 2020 up until 31st December 2022 with the option to extend by up to an additional 12 months. The NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy element of this contract will join the contract from 1 April 2020.

Any extension will be dependent upon the continued availability of funding and performance of the Contractor during the contract period. PLEASE NOTE: There is a maximum budget of £159,616 for Year 1 and £164,741 for Year 2 and Year 3 available for this service.

Any bid/s received in excess of this figure will not be considered further. The demand for Care Act advocacy has been steadily increasing year on year, this is expected to continue.

Historical indicative demand for each area of advocacy is detailed below, the figures detail the number of cases in a 12 month period; IMCA 289 IMHA 254 Care Act 67 Generic Social (non-statutory) 17 Generic Health (non-statutory) 91 NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy 67 The number of DoLS referrals is also predicted to rise due to the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act known as the Liberty Protection Safeguards. Therefore the contractor will be required to adopt creative, innovative and flexible working practices in order to maximize service reach within the approved financial envelope during the first 28 months of the contract.

The Independent NHS Complaints Advocacy services will form part of the contract from 1st April 2020. If you wish to express an interest in this opportunity please click on the 'Login & Register Interest' button below.

Once you have registered your interest you will be able to access the tender documentation. The closing time for completed tender submissions, via The Chest, is 12:00 Noon on Friday, 13th September 2019